In a road accident where one car has stuck to another on collision, accident investigators often measure the length of skidmark produced from where the vehicles collided. The mass of the two cars and the deceleration produced by the road are also measured. How can these figures be used to calculate the velocity of te cars before collision? I got this question as homework after having had a Physics lesson on Momentum. Any help will be very much appreciated. Thanks.
2006-10-14 05:58:13 · 3 answers · asked by lykastar 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Thanks for all the responses. The question says that you are given the mass of the 2 cars, the deceleration after collision and the length of the skidmark.
Cons. of momentum means that total before = total after. So basically,
m1*v1 + m2*v2 = m3*v3.
So I have m1 m2 and m3 as well as v3 (which can be worked out using the suvat equation v-squared = u-squared + 2as.) As a class we haven't gone into any details regarding friction and kinetic energy, and are just supposed to use the suvat equations and the law of conservation of momentum to answer this question. Please help!
2006-10-14 07:04:15 · update #1
What I'm supposed to work out is v1 and v2.
2006-10-14 07:05:24 · update #2
m1v1(initial) + m2v2(initial) = (m1+m2)vfinal
2006-10-14 06:05:52 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
measure the skid marks ..... on there jocks.
2006-10-14 13:00:15 · answer #2 · answered by joey h 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
probably depends on how wrecked they are
2006-10-14 13:02:46 · answer #3 · answered by 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋